Re: [coreboot] Lenovo G505S and Coreboot LTS Candidates list

[Vladimir]

If I am not mistaken, your country is Romania... Unfortunately - if I
didn't skip something - it looks like Romania went out of A10 stock just a
couple of weeks ago! However, I found many offers from Hungary, which is
very close! Some offers are listed on "price list"-type websites (e.g.
http://www.arukereso.hu/CategorySearch.php?st=g505s+a10 ) while others are
not listed anywhere (e.g.
http://www.notebookspecialista.hu/lenovo_ideapad_g505s_59_422983_notebook-11...
)
Nice thing is that these offers usually have A10 + R5 230M, slightly faster
dual graphics. But the majority of G505S models selling in Europe have Win8
pre-installed, so I'm afraid it would be hard to avoid paying extra for
this bloatware, in your case :P

As for other European countries, it is difficult for me to look through the
entire EU because there are many countries with many languages. I only know
English as foreign language, and thats why the majority of foreign offers
I'm able to find, are in UK/US...

On 6 April 2015 at 23:12, Emilian Bold  wrote:
> Well, the G505S with A10-5750M is explicitly listed as no longer being
> sold. So it's the A8 or nothing.
>
> Could you provide links within the EU with (online) shops still selling
> the A10 variant and having some actual stock?
>
> --emi
>
> On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 6:45 PM, Vladimir  wrote:
> > Yes, in addition to A10-5750M based G505S there are also A8 and A6 ones.
> > But there are some possible problems regarding them:
> > their price is just slightly lower than with A10 - as result,
> >
> > price/performance ratio seems to be worse for these models
> > 2) I'm not sure if it is possible could upgrade their APU from A6/A8 to
> > A10-5750M after purchase
> > 3) most importantly: some parameters inside a coreboot source code for
> > G505S could be A10-specific ;
> > I am not sure if a current "A10-inclined build" would run on A8/A6 out of
> > the box, without additional tweaking
> >
> > A question from my last letter - about compatibility of G505S coreboot
> > build with various graphics solutions found in different modifications, is
> > not addressed yet... to remind, there are three groups of modifications:
> > *) only 8650G (no dual graphics)
> > *) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics)
> > *) 8650G + AMD R5 M230 (dual graphics, slightly faster)
> >
> > P.S. Below is an =incomplete= list of SKUs for A10 G505S models that I
> > was able to find. If there is a shortage in your country, maybe this list
> > could assist you in search (those mods with windows 8 are about $50 more
> > expensive and support evil M$, please dont get them ;-) )
> > only 8650G (no dual graphics) + 4GB + FreeDOS = 59-410323
> > only 8650G (no dual graphics) + 8GB + FreeDOS = 59-405169
> > only 8650G (no dual graphics) + 4GB + Windows 8 = 59-380131
> > only 8650G (no dual graphics) + 6GB + Windows 8 = 59-373010 / 59-406417
> > only 8650G (no dual graphics) + 8GB + Windows 8 = 59-403088
> > 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 4GB + FreeDOS = 59-405168
> > 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 6GB + FreeDOS = 59-409773
> > 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 8GB + FreeDOS = 59-380146 /
> >
> > 59-387536
> > 9) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 4GB + Windows 8 = 59-407135 /
> > 59410966
> > 10) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 6GB + Windows 8 = 59-382102
> > 11) 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics) + 8GB + Windows 8 = 59-401209
> > 12) 8650G + AMD R5 M230 (dual graphics, slightly faster) + 4GB + FreeDOS
> > = 59-410881
> > 13) 8650G + AMD R5 M230 (dual graphics, slightly faster) + 8GB + FreeDOS
> > = 59-410885
> > 14) 8650G + AMD R5 M230 (dual graphics, slightly faster)  + 4GB + Windows
> > 8 = 59-408604
> > 15) 8650G + AMD R5 M230 (dual graphics, slightly faster)  + 8GB + Windows
> > 8 = 59-410883
> >
> > On 6 April 2015 at 14:20, Emilian Bold  wrote:
> > > I can confirm I'm still able to buy a G505S in my country but it seems
> > > to have the quad core A8-4500M (not the A10) with a dedicated Radeon HD
> > > 8570M.
> > >
> > > It's a decent machine and it would be great to have it on the official
> > > LTS list.
> > >
> > > Speaking of the list, I cannot find any store selling the Toshiba
> > > Satellite C50D-A mentioned in the wiki.
> > >
> > > --emi
> > >
> > > On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 1:45 PM, Vladimir 
> > > wrote:
> > > > Dear coreboot developers,
> > > >
> > > > Francis Rowe (main Libreboot developer) has hinted an idea about adding
> > > > Lenovo G505S to Coreboot LTS Candidates list of laptops, which is hosted at
> > > > MrNuke's User talk coreboot wiki page. I believe it is an excellent idea,
> > > > because:
> > > >
> > > > *1)* Lenovo G505S contains AMD APU, so there is no need to deal with
> > > > Intel ME/AMT so-called "features"
> > > > *2)* this APU has Richland architecture: as result (unlike the more
> > > > recent AMD offerings) it doesn't have "AMD Secure" feature -- based on ARM
> > > > Trustzone technology which already has some exploits against it; there are
> > > > security concerns about ARM Trustzone that are similar to concerns about
> > > > Intel vPro "feature" (remote management etc.)
> > > > *3)* this APU is A10-5750M, the most powerful mobile APU among
> > > > Richland designs - as result, this laptop is still very competitive
> > > > regarding its performance, and also price/performance
> > > > *4)* Unlike the older HP M6-1035DX amd laptop, Lenovo G505S seems to
> > > > be a very popular model: even now, more than 1.5 years after its'
> > > > introduction, there are >200 Internet shops in my large city still selling
> > > > it new in box - not used/refurbished
> > > > *5)* Lenovo G505s works without microcode updates, and already has a
> > > > working Coreboot build (although Video BIOS and SMU firmware have blobs
> > > > that are still not reverse-engineered; and some minor issues - e.g. ACPI
> > > > not perfect yet )
> > > >
> > > > These great points are making me wonder, why this interesting laptop
> > > > still haven't been added to that LTS Candidates list? Does it fail to meet
> > > > some requirement for LTS candidates in a not-obvious way
> > > > (RYF-certifiable,Sturdy,Long shelf-life,Cool factor) or there is some
> > > > not-listed AMD laptop that could be a better candidate?
> > > >
> > > > By the way, I have discovered that there are many modifications of
> > > > Lenovo G505S, which could be divided into three primary groups by their
> > > > major difference - GPU *(minor differences, such as different size of
> > > > RAM or hard drive, are not interesting)*
> > > > GPU modification groups:
> > > > *1)* only 8650G, which is built-in into APU (no dual graphics)
> > > > *2)* 8650G + AMD HD 8570M (dual graphics)
> > > > *3)* 8650G + AMD R5 M230 ( dual graphics, slightly more powerful than
> > > > "2)" )
> > > > Are these modifications all supported by Coreboot? And would be there
> > > > any additional difficulties regarding modifications with dual graphics?
> > > >
> > > > Your answers and opinions will be very welcome
> > > > Best regards,
> > > > Vladimir Shipovalov